SmartForest 2025 Photo Gallery

SmartForest 2025

SmartForest 2025 took place on Thursday, 13 and Friday, 14 March 2025 at the Technical University of Munich in Freising.


The conference programme is here.

You can find a detailed timetable here.

Further information about our speakers can be found here.

Thorsten Reitz, a bearded man with dark hair and glasses sporting a blue jacket over a grey shirt, gestures at the crowd as he presents at SmartForest 2025. On a partially visible slide behind him are the logos of SmartForest and FutureForest.
The welcome-sign for SmartForest 2025. Also visible are the building's directional signs overhead, the time schedule for Room 4, a large tree slice used as a pinboard, and a SmartForest sign pointing to the toilets.
A crowd of people chats and has drinks in the foyer during SmartForest 2025. To the right, crates of drinks, as well as coffee urns, and fresh fruit are visible.
A stack of tan bags printed with the SmartForest-logo. A visible tag reads "Recycled cotton".
The accessibility-friendly entrance to SmartForest 2025. In the foreground, below a handrail, is a large green banner with the SmartForest-branding. to the right is an automated sliding door with a pictogram of a person in a wheelchair. Through the building's windows, members of the SmartForest team can be seen.
The doorway to Lecture Hall 21 at SmartForest 2025. Plants can be seen through the open door, while on the panel next to it is a poster showing the time schedule for that room on Thursday, March 13th. To the left is a large, SmartForest-branded stand-up poster that bears the text "Entrance Eingang. SmartForest. Main Sessions Haupt-Sessions"
Photograph taken from the back of the full lecture hall during the opening of SmartForest 2025. The crowd listens attentively to Dr. Werner Rammer while Prof. Dr. Rupert Seidl's microphone is being hooked up on the right.
Dr. Werner Rammer addresses a full lecture hall. To the left is a sign of the "Zentrum Wald Forst Holz Weihenstephan", while on the right is a projected slide welcoming people to SmartForest.
Prof. Dr. Rupert Seidl, a bespectacled man with short dark hair and a beard, points up towards his head with both fingers as he addresses the crowd. Behind him is a projection of a forest.
Three men watch the front of the lecture hall with interest. Next to them is a SmartForest-branded sign with the text "Main Session Hauptsession".
Thorsten Reitz, a bespectacled man with brown curly hair, a short beard, a grey shirt, and blue jacket smiles at the crowd as he presents at SmartForest 2025.
Dr. Werner Rammer and Prof Dr. Martin Ziesak are seen in profile as they listen to a presentation in the main session lecture hall of SmartForest 2025
A large crowd is gathered in the foyer during SmartForest 2025, with people having lively discussions in small clusters.
Prof. Dr. Fabian Faßnacht, a blond man wearing a blue shirt and jacket, lectures to the crowd at SmartForest 2025.
Prof. Dr. Fabian Faßnacht speaks to the crowd in the main lecture hall. Behind him, a slide shows a picture of a digital assistant with the text "What is artificial intelligence?" write large above it. On the slide are three points: "- Artificial Intelligence (AI) generally describes the idea that a machine (usually a computer) is taught (=given the ability) to master cognitive tasks. - The term "pattern recognition" plays a major role here (auditory, visual, numerical patterns). - In a narrower sense, AI is a family of computer algorithms that enable the computer to recognize patterns and thus also the ability to solve cognitive tasks."
A blonde woman in glasses stands in front of a classroom with wooden tables and chairs. One wall is nearly entirely comprised of windows and most seats are taken. A projected slide reads "Größte Gefahren für den Wald", showing text and green bar charts.
A blonde woman in glasses stands in front of a classroom, gesturing as she addresses the crowd. To the right, a projected slide titled "Größte Gefahren für den Wald" is partially visible, listing the three main dangers to the forest as "Klimawandel: 70.45%, Schadenorganismen/Schädlinge: 54.54%, Umweltverschmutzung: 48.29%". Another point collects other dangers: "Stürme, Dürre, umstürzende Bäume und Industrialisierung".
Three women, Ramona Resch, Franziska Hochenegger, and Dr. Nina Krüger, smile at the camera from the SmartForest reception desk.
A dark-haired, bespectacled man in a denim shirt stands in front of a classroom, explaining something. Next to him is a projected slide, titled "Challenge 2 and 3: Multi-functionality under uncertainty" It has two points: "Multiple targets (timber, mitigation, adaptation, ecosystem services" and "Uncertain future climate and economy → Portfolio-approach → Risk diversification", with two graphs along the bottom.
Dr. Frank Thonfeld, a dark-haired man with a stubbly beard and light blue button-up shirt, gestures at a projected slide titled "Background" as a classroom of interested people looks on. The slide reads "2018-2020 drought most severe in the last 250 years (soil moisture)" and shows several graphs and maps of Europe with location data. The final two lines are "Rakovec et al. 2022" and "Drought monitor", with a link to the UFZ website.
Refiz Duro, a dark-haired man with a beard wearing a blue blazer, points at a slide in front of a classroom. The top of the slide sports the SmartForest logo and the text "Understanding Climate Change Implications". Below is the AI4Trees Project's logo, alongside the text "Artificial Intelligence for Climate Sensitive Tree Growth Modelling & Maximum Carbon Segregation". Below are the logos of the Austrian Institute of Technology, Know Center, BFW, and E.C.O. Institut für Ökologie.
Janusch Vajna-Jehle, a brown-haired man with a short stubbly beard, a dark blue jumper, and tan trousers, leans over a desk as he speaks in the main lecture hall.
Dr. Frank Thonfeld, a dark-haired man with a stubbly beard and light blue button-up shirt, gestures at a projected slide showing location data. Only part of the slide is visible, including the text "Rakovec et al. 2022" and "Drought monitor".
An outdoor shot of the entrance to the 2025 SmartForest conference in Freising, showing two sets of large double doors, as well as an accessibility-friendly automatic sliding door, and a green SmartForest banner.
A crowd of people watches a presentation on deadtrees.earth in the main lecture hall during SmartForest 2025.
Dr. Werner Rammer, a bearded man with glasses and curly brown hair, stands to the side of the well-filled lecture hall during SmartForest, holding a microphone to facilitate crowd questions.
Janusch Vajna-Jehle, a brown-haired man with a stubbly beard and a blue jumper, stands in front of a blackboard with his hands behind his back.
A crowd shot of the main lecture hall at SmartForest 2025.
A bespectacled blonde woman in a white shirt and blue blazer is standing in front of a classroom. She and other attendees are attentively looking over at someone out of frame. To the right, a projected slide reads "FFH-Monitoring im Klimawandel. Zusammenfassung.", with the points "-derzeitiges FFH-Monitoring ohne Aussagekraft zu Einzel-Gebieten und deren Lebensraumtypen. - vorgestellte Methoden Könnten eine sinvolle Ergänzung darstellen. - Ergänzung des FFH-Monitorings um Erfassung von Vitalitätsparametern von Einzelbäumen und Fernerkundungsdaten kann diskutiert werden. - für Aussagen zu Einzelgebieten und deren LRT könnten der Vergleich von alten und neuen FFH-Kartierungen / Up-Scaling Ansatz eine sinvoll Erfassungsmethode sein. - weiterer Forschungsbedarf für die genaue Methodenfundung notwendig". At the bottom is the logo of the Hochschule Anhalt University of Applied Sciences.
Johannes Mohr, a black-haired bearded man wearing a light blue-button up and black vest, stands with crossed arms as he listens to a question from the audience. Behind him, a "Thank you"-slide bears the branding of EDFM and SmartForest.
Johannes Mohr, a young bearded man with black hair, looks over at Dr. Peter Bieber, an older man with glasses and a greying beard, as he explains something in front of a SmartForest-branded slide with the text "Thank you for your attention! Questions? Contact?" along with his picture and contact information.
Dr. Werner Rammer, Dr. Fabian Fassnacht, Janusch Vajna-Jehlem and Dr. Felipe de Miguel Diez are at the front of the lecture hall. In the crowd, seen from the back, a grey-haired man in a brown jacket raises a finger.
The SmartForest reception team, in this picture consisting of Franziska Hochenegger, Dr. Nina Krüger, and Anna Glissmann share a laugh with a dark-haired attendee carrying a backpack.
Dr. Somakanthan Somalingam, a dark-skinned man in a blue jumper, jeans, and sneakers, laughs in front of a slide full of data, as his curly-haired colleague Dr. Flaminia Catalli makes a remark from the front row.
A small crowd of SmartForest 2025 attendees is gathered in a classroom with wooden tables and chairs. One wall is nearly entirely comprised of windows. They are speaking in small groups. In the background is a projected green slide with SmartForest-branding and the text "Mittagspause bis 14:00 Uhr"
Prof. Dr. Fabian Fassnacht, a smiling blond man, passes a microphone to Janusch Vajna-Jehle, a bearded man with wavy dark hair, as Dr. Felipe de Miguel Diaz looks on.
Dr. Rupert Seidl, a bespectacled man with short dark hair and beard, stands with his arms crossed in front of a SmartForest banner. To the left, another man in glasses, Dr. Peter Biber, is seen from the back, speaking to Prof Seidl. He is holding a mug in one hand whilst gesturing with the other.
A shot of the entrance hall of SmartForest 2025 at the TU Munich in Freising, showing a large crowd broken up into smaller groups having friendly discussions.
A SmartForest-branded Roll-Up poster bears the text "In-Depth Session". To its right is a window with a view of a classroom with wooden tables and chairs and a large window to the outside. Safety instructions and a timetable have been taped to the internal window, but do not block it significantly. Coats and bags are visible on the tables and chairs. To the left is the shoulder of an attendee, with their SmartForest nametag just visible, but not legible.
An adorable little brown-and-black dog sits atop their owner's bag at SmartForest 2025.
Dr.-Ing. Chris Geigner, a dark-haired man in a suit, stands in front of a classroom. He is presenting a talk titled "Assistenzsystem für eine teilautomatisierte Befahrung von Rückegassen" on behalf of HSM Hohenloher Spezial-Maschinenbau GmbH. The current slide is titled "Motiviation: Gesunder und Nachhaltiger Arbeitsplatz" and shows a digital representation of forestry equipment, as well as a lot of data points and representations.
Philipp Eisnecker, a dark-haired man with a buzzcut and short beard, points at the projection of a slide with four pictures of the same aerial view of trees, each with different colours, titled "Input Data".
Philipp Eisnecker, a dark-haired man with a buzzcut and short beard, smiles as a blonde woman asks him questions from a classroom seat. Behind him is a slide with four pictures of the same aerial view of trees, each with different colours, titled "Input Data".
A grey-haired man in glasses and a smart suit addresses the crowd at SmartForest 2025.
Zezhou Wang, a dark-haired Asian man in a smart suit and glasses, answers questions from the crowd at SmartForest 2025.
Zezhou Wang, a dark-haired Asian man in a smart suit and glasses, presents a MOBIMA (Mobile Arbeitschmaschinen) slide titled "Lidar-gestützte Lokalisierung. Feature-SLAM für Waldumgebungen" to a crowd of interested professionals at SmartForest 2025.
Niklas Jaggy, a dark-haired man with a short beard wearing a blue jumper, stands in front of a classroom. He is presenting a slide that shows the Input, Preprocessing, Preparation, Detection, and Update stages of forestry data.
Prof. Dr. Martin Ziesak presents a Main Session at SmartForest 2025. His slide is titled "KI für die Forstwirtschaft - von 'Embedded AI' und 'generativen Forst-KI Plattformen'.
Prof. Dr. Martin Ziesak, sporting a light button-up and dark jacket, is seen lecturing to an attentive audience. Only part of the current slide is visible, which reads "II. Auf dem Weg zur Embedded AI (Eingebettete KI), III. Auf dem Weg zur generischen Forstlichen KI, IV. Resümee"
A dark-haired man shows a projected German PowerPoint slide to a classroom of people. The slide is titled "Vorläufige Liste der schutzwaldfachlich relevanten Strukturen" and has three colour blocks. The largest is green and titled "Bäume", showing names and pictures with "Ahorn, Buche, Fichte, Kiefer, and Lärche", the smallest is "Verbauungsstrukturen" in a dark yellow, with two pictures and the text "Dreibeinböcke", and finally a grey one is "Tote Bäume", showing text and pictures for "Stehend" and "Liegend". The LWF-logo of the Bayerische Landesanstalt für Wald und Forstwirtschaft is visible in the bottom left corner of the slide, and "Moritz Camenzind, Richard Heitz, LWF" on the bottom right.
Benjamin Lieberknecht, a bearded man in a red checked button-up explains something to an interested classroom. Behind him, a partially visible projection shows the words "Tree Analysis" and "European Space Imaging".
Nancy Müller, a dark-haired woman in a dark dress with abstract plant-motif and a blue cardigan explains something in front of a blackboard. On a projection behind her, the "FNR"-logo of Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe is visible.
A bespectacled man with a short, greying beard explains something to people in a classroom.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Andreas Ligocki, a tall bespectacled man, and Anja Krauth, a woman with a dark ponytail, stand in front of a classroom, with onlookers seen from the back. Prof. Ligocki appears to be in the middle of answering a question. Behind him, a projected slide is partially visible and reads: "Einzelne (in-situ) High-End Sensoren erfassen "nur" - punktuelle, - meist lückenhafte, - und zudem teure Daten. Lokal unterschiedliche Bodeneigenschaften können durch wenige Sensoren kaum abgebildet werden. Für das Training von KI-Modellen ist eine große Menge an trainingsdaten erforderlich!", a blue arrow points down at a further bit of blue text: "Eine hohe verfügbare Anzahl an Bodensensoren wäre wünschenswert", followed by a red: "Aber: Ein Massenrollout von Bodensensoren ist nur möglich", with the rest cut off.
Amelie Mc Kenna, a blonde woman with small gold-rimmed glasses and a dark-coloured top, lectures to a classroom. Next to her is a projected slide with a picture showing a representation of tree crowns in green, yellow, and blue, with several circled in red, and another showing seven different clusters of coloured dots on a black background. The text besides these images reads: "Outlook. - Test different satellite remote sensing products, especially 10 m resolution, - Integrate 3D point cloud data from digital twin (DigiZ-DE) to estimate leaf area density from lidar"
Thorsten Reitz, a tall man with a beard and glasses, gestures as he explains something to a crowd of fascinated onlookers. A projected PowerPoint slide beside him asks the question "For whom is the Forest Data Space?", with the subtitle "Forest Transformation: Dealing with Climate Change". It answers the question with four lists of Data-holding Organisations, Multipliers, User, and Value-added Services.
A small crowd of people is gathered around the door of Room 5, their backs to the camera as they inspect a poster bearing the room's schedule for the day. To their left is a SmartForest banner bearing the words "In-Depth Session".
A dark-haired woman in glasses stands behind the lectern in the main SmartForest lecture hall, addressing the crowd.
Two members of the SmartForest organisation team smile at the camera in the conference's foyer, a glass wall behind them. To the left, Johannes Mohr, a tall bearded man, and to the right, Franziska Hochenegger, a blonde woman with a ponytail holding a bottle of juice.
Dr. Martin Hoppen, a dark-haired man sporting heavy-rimmed glasses and a dark jumper over a light button-down gestures in front of his chest, palms cupped towards each other as if grasping something, A classroom of interested people look on. A projected slide showing forestry equipment is just visible to the right of the picture.
Lennart Schinke, a dark-haired man with a stubbly beard and light-coloured jumper, stands in front of a classroom, listening to someone as they ask a question. Beside him is a slide showing forestry equipment and many logos. It is titled "Forestry Data Trustee - A data trustee to enhance data sharing in the forest-based sector."
Lennart Schinke, a dark-haired man with a stubbly beard and light-coloured jumper, stands at the front of a classroom, gesturing as he explains something to a crowd of interested onlookers. A projected slide next to him reads "Conclusion. Key takeaways. Act neutral and generate trust. Protect data by processing it on behalf of provider. User friendly access points tailored to IT-skills"
Dr. Ruth Dirsch, a woman in a light blue blouse, darker blue blazer, and jeans, addresses the SmartForest crowd in front of a blackboard.
In the back of the lecture hall, SmartForest-organiser Franziska Hochenegger smiles at the camera.
A man stands in front of a SmartForest poster, lecturing. To the left is a projection of an Asterix comic panel in German. Vitalstatistix, the red-headed Gaulish chief, is standing up, carried atop a shield. Just below his chest-level, green "stinky" vapour lines are visible. He asks the crowd of green-faced villagers below him "Was habt ihr denn?", to which one of his carriers replies "Wenn du nicht so hoch über uns stehen würdest, Chef, dann wüßtest du's!"
A man in a green button-up and grey vest stands in front of a projection of a forest floor. He appears to be calmly explaining something. His SmartForest 2025 name tag proclaims him to be Martin Roth of Wood-in-Vision.
A crowd shot of the big lecture hall at the Technical University of Munich during SmartForest 2025. The room is full, with virtually every seat occupied and a small group of people standing in the back.
A bald man in glasses addresses a crowd of people in a classroom. Next to him is a projected slide, sporting the logos of BOKU and Kverneland, as well as two pictures of tractors and some text. The text reads: "A real-life example. A farmer needs to fertilize a 10-ha wheat field. What should be considered? - Total Amount of Fertilizer (How much?), - Spatial Variability (How much to apply where?), - ... (when?...) Goal: ensure that each part of the field receives the optimal amount of fertilizer to maximize crop yield."
Thorsten Reitz, a tall, dark-haired. bearded man with glasses, wearing a dark button-down and blue jacket, stands next to a large projection of the SmartForest logo on a green background with stylised white trees.
Two SmartForest 2025 participants have a discussion whilst standing by a white table in front of the conference's welcome sign.
Richard Georgi, a dark-haired man with a stubbly beard, lectures in front of a blackboard and projection screen. On the partially visible screen to the right, we can make out his name, as well as tghe words "Chancen", "Waldbesitz" "Smart Forest" and "Freising".
A woman with long brown hair, wearing a blue top and jeans, stands to the left of a projection, explaining something as a crowd seen from the back looks one. The projection reads: "Vegetation Structure, Carbon Storage, and Plant Biodiversity Sites - Using: Drones, Handheld Laser Scanners, Satellite Imagery"
Richard Georgi, a dark-haired man in a charcoal button-down shirt and khaki trousers, lectures from behind a desk. Behind him is a blackboard.
A man in a grey button-up shirt stands in front of a blackboard, his hands clasped in front of him and a microphone visibly hooked up to the front of his shirt. His expression is a thinking one, as if he's in the midst of answering a question.
A man in a brown button-up smiles in front of a projection, partially covering the text behind him. Other people nearby are also smiling. The part of the screen that can be read says: "disturbance forest resilience. Hochholzer, Technische Universität München, School of Life Sciences, Chair of Ecosystem Dynamics and Forest Management, March 2025".
A woman with a ponytail, sporting a black-and-orange outfit featuring the Forestify logo (two crossed axes over the top half of a circular sawblade) lectures to a crowd in a classroom.
A dark-haired man in glasses and a grey button-up gestures at a projector screen. On the screen is a mobile device, showing an app with zoom-buttons and various diamond-shapes on a white background. A green bar along the top reads "PPSS22 Fichte - Alimitwald (BGBern) [10.12.2021]"
Three people stand in a lecture hall, facing the room. To the left, Jonas Kerber (a blond man in glasses and a dark zip-up sweatshirt) and Hannah Weiser (a brunette sporting a pink top with a dark vest) look over to the right, where Alicia Charennat (a dark-haired woman in a light-coloured blouse with flower motif and a blue scarf) speaks into the microphone.

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